Thinking of my sister, who’s made her own sort of pilgrimage to the Holy Ganga of India, the Mother of Rivers where people come to pray, to drink, and to die, the only journey that could possibly compare in California, is to the source of our watery lifeline, the Sacramento River.

The Sacramento is the aorta of California’s water circulation system, the mother of all Californian rivers, carrying nearly a third of the state’s freshwater runoff. And in the case of the Sacramento, the comparison between rivers and mothers is not a stretch. The river gives us ample water to drink, grows our food, waters our landscapes, carves our computer chips, and at the same time nourishes the plants on her banks and the fish in her streams.

Just as a mother feels the incessant needs of her children (especially a Californian momma), and precariously struggles with that elusive word ‘balance,’ so the Sacramento feels many pulls on her. The pull to grow our food. The Sacramento gives water towards not only our sustenance, but towards our wealth as a state, being the cornerstone that supports CA as the fifth largest economy in the world.

The pull to quench our thirst.  Rivers that feed into the Sacramento, provide most of Southern California’s drinking water. Rising urban populations ever at odds with agriculture.

The pull to support all of our human needs. And at the same time, the needs of the plants, trees, marshes, salmon, trout that depend on her. And like a mother, she keeps giving, even at her own peril, even as her body threatens to give out.

It was a special thang, then, to visit the source of the Sacramento. As with all sources, the headwaters of the Sacramento are small, unassuming. Impressive because of the great river they will become. And the purity of the water. Flowing out of the rocks in the corner of Mt Shasta’s city park.

One of the only watery spots I’ve ever been to, where the attitude of reverence pervades the air. There are angel-lovers and Lemurian devotees, as Shasta tends to draw a crowd of eclectic belief systems. But there are also the more down-to-earth folks- who come to stand quietly, reflecting- possibly on how such a small spring of water could turn into a gigantic river like the Sacramento. Everyone takes their turn to drink from the spring, which has the sweetest, most delicious water. After all, the headwaters of the Sac are the place this water first issues from the stony gut of Shasta, filtered through lava tubes deep in the mountains core.

People of all ages bring bottles. And come to drink. And for a moment, reflect.